Industrial developer and investor, Chancerygate, has hired Ian Anderson from Barwood Developments as the first appointment to the new office at 9 Chapel Walks in Manchester city centre.

Anderson is currently serving his notice at Barwood and is due to join Chancerygate at the end of August, before the Manchester office opens in early September.

For nearly 20 years, Chancerygate has focused its industrial development activity on London and the South East where it has developed 6m sq ft of industrial space.

In the past year it has embarked on a £50m buying programme and is now looking to extend its activities more widely across the UK. Its expansion plans are intended to take the company's development programme value to above £100m in the next year.

Currently Chancerygate is on site speculatively building the 48,500 sq ft final phase of its S:Park development in Stockport. Chancerygate has already built out and fully sold 48,500 sq ft at S:Park. The company also has standing investments in Aintree, Bredbury in Stockport and Trafford Park.

Chancerygate specialises in units for small and medium businesses but Eddie Cook, managing director of Chancerygate, told Place North West the company will consider larger units for the institutional market and is currently bidding on land in the region.

Cook added: "Given its strategic location and proximity to our S:Park project, Manchester being recognised as the second city in the UK is the logical place for us to open our new base. We see there being considerable potential for new projects across the north of England and other strong regional locations."

With a further 300,000 sq ft UK development programme already underway and more projects in the pipeline, Chancerygate has strengthened its team with the appointment of three new development surveyors and a project manager.

Adam Courtenay and Jonathan Lee, both formerly with Kier Property, joined Chancerygate as development surveyors together with Amit Babbar who was previously with Colliers International. All three will operate from Chancerygate's London office.

Cook added: "These are important new hires for us and form part of our strategy and growth plans for the business. All appointments complement our existing development team with the objective of us seeking value in the regions as well as our core locations in west London.

"We will be recruiting further experienced personnel for the Manchester team."